500 Great Synth Sounds

Just starting off with a few I remember

1. The lower voice in the chorus of Eurythmics' "Love Is a Stranger"
2. The low "booooooing" sound in Eddy Grant's "Electric Avenue"
3. The snowball-hitting-window "drum" sound in Yello's "Drive-Driven"

(and - yes - as exemplified by the third one - samples count too, if they are sounds and not loops)

A few more

4. The bass in "The Robots" by Kraftwerk
5. The "boooooooing" at the beginning of "The Robots"
6. The weird sound effect that was first used on Anita Ward's "Ring My Bell"

7. The frog sounds at the bottom of the breakdown in New Order's "Perfect Kiss". After all those layers of cold, interlocking textures, suddenly something organic... yet still artificial.

8. Heck, the fake oboe in "Your Silent Face."

9. The lead in Prince's "Delirious."

10. All the keyboards - synth bass, etc. - in "This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)"

11. The "wwwwah-wwwwah" synth sound at the beginning of SAW II's "Cliffs"
12. The synth that sounds like a koto at the end of "Cliffs"

13. The eerie (DX-7?) detuned chords in the background during the "For U naked/I would dance a ballet" section of Prince's "If I Was Your Girlfriend"

14. All of John Foxx's "Metamatic"

15. Vangelis' trademark CS-80 wobbly trumpet+echo sound

16. Bernie Worrell's (sp?) synth bass on "Flashlight"

17. Drops-of-water synth lead in Robin S.'s "Show Me Love" that ended up in most other 1993 club hits.

18. Rick Wright's 3-osc portamento lead on "Welcome to the Machine"

19. Opening of "Won't Get Fooled Again."

20. The sound effect at the beginning of Donna Summer's "Sunset People" that was later sampled by Fun Fun on "Happy Station"

21. Moroder's swimmy lead on Blondie's "Call Me"

22. woooo wooo WONKKK WONNNK wooooOOOOOoooooOOOOOoooo WONK perp perp perperperperperp

23. eno - "virginia plain" solo
24. eno - "the paw paw negro blowtorch" solo
25. alen ravenstine - "non alignment pact"

26. Omar S - Psychotic Photosynthesis (no drum mix)

27. The square-wave lead on Tapps' "My Forbidden Lover"

28. The barely tonal, wind-like, synth pad sound on "West End Girls", most noticeable on the intro.

The (Moroder) synth-bass on "What A Feeling" and "Take My Breath Away"

^ That was 29. Sorry!

The synth solo (hard to describe what it sounds like) on Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill".

Dammit! ^ 30.

SO many synthesizer chords i only can think of a few

The main chords and the ones near-the-end song change chords on D-train "Your The One For Me"
The main chords on Phil Collins "Sussudio"
The arpeggio sound in Human League "Don't you want me baby"
The moog bass on Yarborough and People "Don't stop the music"
The moog bass on SOS band "Just be Good To Me"
The DX-7 rhodes sound in any R&B song
The main long sweep sound in Cameo "Attack Me With Your Love"

the big space-slug laser synth-bass that sounds like "BEEWWOoouuugh" from the Bar-Kays' "Holy Ghost"

39. Prodigy - Weather Experience (intro)
40. Jonzun Crew - ground control
41. Opus III - alzir (bell-like pad throughout the song/track)
42. Fresh Moods - u gone (2 x synth pad first @ 2:11-3:00)

some tracks which i had in mind turned out to be rather trivial (soundwise) after brief listening. which should mean that its just the melody that made a good impression to me (tubular bells, assault on precinct 13, al-nafyiish). Jean-Jacques Perrey - E.V.A. left out for the same reason IMO.

the big space-slug laser synth-bass that sounds like "BEEWWOoouuugh" from the Bar-Kays' "Holy Ghost"
love this description.

thanks, I try my best :D

Also i like to add the DX-7 rhodes+pad sound that is heard in any late 80's R&B song like these song examples.

Isley Brothers Spend the Night
http://www.singingfool.com/Title.aspx?publishedid=00615730

Sherrick Just Call

the mother-of-all-gfunk-whines from the Ohio Players' "Funky Worm"

45. Luis Junior - one day

46. The "Miaaooooo" sound in the intro of Human League's "Love Action"

47. synth on Van Halen's "Jump"

48. Lead synth on OMD's "Souvenir"

49. Oberheim chords on Van Halen's "I'll Wait"

50. The more or less periodic "space signal" in FSOL - "Papua New Guinea"

51. Holden's "Idiot" - the way the main pulse modulates from dry to wet, fat to spare, from a bell to click to a glitch.

52. That thin, eerie sound on Silent Shout, Like a Pen and Na Na Na.

53. Japan's "Taking Islands In Africa"

Spotify playlist of some of thread so far (collab one, so add more!)

http://open.spotify.com/user/smarmy/playlist/0X9P4CkCpuOYcQ0Xd9iDfE

54. Mentasm/Hoover
55. the bass sound on Fingers 'Washing Machine'

56. the 'L.F.O.' synth hook

53 is so OTM

57. More NO — those incredible synths that open 'Procession'

58. The bass line on EPMD - You gotsta chill (I can't remember if it'that part's a george clinton sample or not, but either way)

59 The 303 of A Guy Called Gerald - Voodoo Ray

60. The ominious fart sounds on PJ Harvey's My Beautiful Leah

Aw c'mon - Rush - Tom Sawyer opening

61. Madonna 'Lucky Star' intro

63. voice chorus on House Crew's 'The Theme'
64. pad during middle eight after beat stops in House Crew's 'Euphoria (Nino's Dream)'

65. Into synth to John Parr's otherwise indefensible "Naughty Naughty"

er, Intro

66. JP-8 lead on Duran Duran's "Save a Prayer"...

^^^^^^YES

67. Kajagoogoo's bubbling Too Shy synths (produced by Rhodes ;-)

68. The huge robotic bass rumble in Q Project's Champion Sound and many Jungle/DnB tunes after it.

69. Duran/Rhodes again: The random arpeggiator in "Hungry Like the Wolf" and "Rio".

70. That eerie, high, Theremin-like melody on Kraftwerk's "Spacelab".

71. bass sound on May's 'R Theme'
72. ravey hook on Blake Baxter's 'Ghost'
73. vertigo-inducing strings on Prodigy's 'Hyperspeed'

74. all of "I Feel Love"
75. the motherfucking 808 cowbell

#59 otm otm otm

76. the amazing drilly hook in FSOL's "We Have Explosive"

the high part in "Blow Job" by Bruce Haack

^ 77.

78. The timpanic doom of the intro (and rest) of Wendy Carlos' Clockwork Orange main theme.

Love it. Best part about that sound, IMO, is the pitch sliding down. It sounds like sanity melting.

The strange and long lasting snare in Eurythmics' "Regrets".

(79 even)

80. The lead sound in "Shine On You Crazy Diamond". Apparently one of the most sought after VST sounds among Cubase and Cakewalk users.

Autechre - "Eutow". Don't really need to single out parts as there aren't very many, but there's just an amazing woozy grace to the track that I'm in awe of.

OK, maybe the bit where the main high synth is reprised, except in a muffled disjointed way like you're listening to it from the other end of a corridor and from time to time the doors in between are opened and shut.

Or the bee-oooowww of the bass drops. Or, or, all of it.

82. (and very POX worthy) Bronski Beat - Smalltown Boy

83/Solina string machine thru modded small stone phaser on Jean Michel Jarre's "Eqiunoxe"

84/Moog Taurus "Taurus" preset

85/PolyMoog "Vox Humana" preset sound slathered all over Gary Numan's "The Pleasure Principle"

86/high minimoog lead sound on Rush' "Xanadu"

Solina string machine thru modded small stone phaser on Jean Michel Jarre's "Eqiunoxe"

Apparently a Yamaha GX-1. But wonderful it was anyway.

87. John Paul Jones' Yamaha GX-1 on In Through The Out Door - specifically "Carouselambra" and "All My Love"
88. Vangelis' lead synth line in the opening titles of Blade Runner (Yamaha CS80)

Startrekman has recalled more synth sounds he/she/it likes

The Linn-9000 conga sound heard in some Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis songs between 1984-1991.
The funny but famous synth riff in Grandmaster Flash "The message"
The main sweep sound from the prophet 5 in the Whispers "Tonight" form 1983
The drum machine sound in the Whispers "Rock Steady"
The gated "Kuh" sound heard in early Prince.

lets not forget the spacey sounds in Norman Connors "You are my starship"

Solina string machine thru modded small stone phaser on Jean Michel Jarre's "Eqiunoxe"

Apparently a Yamaha GX-1. But wonderful it was anyway.

Actually, it IS the Solina -- the precursor which was the Eminent. Jarre never played a GX-1 or CS-80.

95 the lead in the cure's "a forest"
96 the lead in dj mujava's "township funk"
97 the lead in "madame hollywood" by felix da housecat
98 the chords/pads in "pacific" by 808 state
99 the bassline in "energy flash" by joey beltram
100 the theme from twin peaks as used in moby's "go"

101. Bridge/Solo Joe Walsh's "Life's Been Good"

102. Another intro synth (could just as easily be the opening to Peter Schilling's "Major Tom"):

103 eno - an ending (ascent)

104 jeff mills - the bells

105 - ending of "Lucky Man" from ELP

105 phuture - acid tracks

shit, 106

107. Flirts 'PASSION' yowling synth bass, later sampled by FelixTH
108. string hook on Hashim's 'Al Naafiysh (The Soul)'
109. main hook on Braxe & Falke's 'Rubicon'
110. chorus synth hook on Grace Jones 'Slave To The Rhythm'

111. The downward sliding sound effect that Jam & Lewis used a lot in the mid 80s, on hits like "Human" and "Just The Way I Like It".

112. Sounds From The Ground - razz / sweeps
113. Bluetech - oleander
114. Ott - 382 seaside /warped synthbells @ 1:57
115. Cosmic Baby - heavens tears /&others from Stellar Supreme
116. Mundo Muzique - andromeda

117. squelchy synth bass in "let the music play" by shannon

118. Orbital's trademark background bleeps (esp. on 'Forever' and 'Spare Parts Express')

119. Roy Bittan's muted pad in "I'm on Fire" by Bruce Springsteen.

120. Billy Currie's ARP Odyssey lead on "Astrodyne" and most of Vienna -- this could be #1, really.

121. strings on Carl Craig's 'Science Fiction'

119. Roy Bittan's muted pad in "I'm on Fire" by Bruce Springsteen.

Isn't this actually Danny Federici's organ?

122. Del Detmer's oscillators on "We took the wrong step years ago"

123. That Talking Heads vibrato synth sound. Good example being solo in Life During Wartime in Stop Making Sense.

124. Eno - "Sky Saw"

125. Mohan Ayyar

126. Everything in Steve Winwood's "Valerie": C/D? - the bright chirpy main loop, but especially the squiggling solo.
127. Chicory Tip, "Son of My Father" - same deal really.

128. Many great sounds in this but I'll mention the 4-note motive that emerges around 4:32 in Herbie Hancock's "Rain Dance".

129. And then like every sound that's layered from 6:20..

Fucking hell guys, the Fairlight "Orch 5" orchestra hit from every record in the 80s ever (notably Owner Of A Lonely Heart).

BWAMK!

131. Bassline in "Autobahn"
132. The solo on "In The Cage" by Genesis (dunno what they used)
133. Intro to "Rydeen" by YMO
134. Squiggly sounds in "Ghosts" by Japan (Oberheim?)

"In the Cage" OTM.

135. Random sample-and-hold tones throughout Pere Ubu's "George Had a Hat"

136. Rhythm is Rhythm - Strings of Life

Are there any synths on that? Isn't it all classical music samples?

Yeah, and "Sky Saw" isn't a synth -- it's treated guitar run through a synth.

Ha, touche.

Xpost: Really? I had no idea, thought it was all synthesizer. in that case:

136. The bassline from Whoomp There It Is!

137. Giorgio Moroder - Utopia, Me Giorigo

(Yeah, it's the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.)

re: #136

138. Muskrat solo in Captain & Tennille's "Muskrat Love"

139. the brittle, windlike whooshing sounds, which call to mind a ghost chanting "ooga chaka, ooga chaka, ooga chaka..." over the airwaves of a ghost ship's radio, that kick off Wendy Carlos's Beauty and the Beast. That album is a goldmine for great synth sounds, really.

140. Lead line in "Da Funk."

Xposts: Ughh, I'm bad at this (and the You Gots to Chill Bassline is a sample also)

The solo on "In The Cage" by Genesis (dunno what they used)

Pretty sure Tony Banks used a Moog back then.

Arp pro-soloist, geir.

Fucking hell guys, the Fairlight "Orch 5" orchestra hit from every record in the 80s ever (notably Owner Of A Lonely Heart).

BWAMK!

― Matt #2, Monday, 23 March 2009 00:57 (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I would go for Duran Duran's "View To A Kill" as possibly the best example, because it's used throughout the track.

"A View To a Kill" is a great example, but "Owner Of a Lonely Heart" remains the main moment. Maybe besides Art Of Noise's "Close (To The Edit)".

141.(?) the sound effects on Todd Rundgren's "onomatopoeia"

142. More Art of Noise: the lead on "Moments in Love"

143. Animotion, "Obsession" ... the lead synth melody is the most famous part of the song, but what about the airy, whistle-like synth that first appears after the main synth line and before the first verse?

144. EVERYTHING on Nine Inch Nails' "Closer"

but mainly the bassline. that is one of the great achievements of modern technology

and another reason why flood is a god

I never knew the Trevor Horn ochestra hit was a Fairlight. I thought it was a sample from some record. Also from Horn: the rippling riff of Seal's "Crazy".

146: the acidic stab on 'Chemical Beats'

More Art of Noise: the lead on "Moments in Love"

Itself, an homage to 10cc's "I'm Not In Love"...

147. Yamaha DX7 bell sound (on everything in the '80s, from Band Aid to Echo & the Bunnymen)

19. Opening of "Won't Get Fooled Again."

Actually, that's an organ played through a filter. Similarly, the "synth" sound on "Who Are You" is a distorted/overdriven guitar played through a similar type filter.

Oop

148. Even though it has become way overused, and also used in a lot of wrong ways, the DX7 Rhodes is still a wonderful sound.

149. Big fanfare-type thing in the instrumental chorus of Propaganda's "P:Machinery"

150. Multiple ping-pong balls (especially the reverbed tok-TAK-tok ones) in Depeche Mode's "Pipeline" (allowed by rule in second post)

151: DX7 Vibes heard in various R&B songs between 1984-1988

example

Dennis Edwards "Don't look any further"

Rebbie Jackson's "Centipede"

152- The rock guitar like synth sound possibly a DX-7 or fairlight

Example

Baltimora- Tarzan Boy

Animotion- Obession

152- The rock guitar like synth sound possibly a DX-7 or fairlight

That one sound is actually one of the main reasons why I never quite liked digital synths or FM synths much and always prefer the warmer and more typically synthy sounds of the old analog synths. But well... to each his own. :)

150. Multiple ping-pong balls (especially the reverbed tok-TAK-tok ones) in Depeche Mode's "Pipeline" (allowed by rule in second post)

I considered them myself too. But didn't post them because I would classify them as borderline (rather long lasting sample). But I love them anyway :)

153. The light synth sound playing a background melody just before the drums kick in and the song modulates one note up in Bolland's "You're In The Army Now"

154-Prophet 5 stabby main saw with aftertouch

example

155. The whatever the hell it is percussive thwikka wikka pow pow synth/drummachine noise at the start of "I Travel" by Simple Minds

Not a synth, but pertinent to the discussion:

http://www.noiseaddicts.com/2009/03/superstition-clavinet-part-dissected/

156. The "synth bugle" or whatever it is on Boards Of Canada's 'A Is To B As B Is To C...'

157. The warped string on Pepe Braddock's 'Deep Burnt'
158. Rollo's monstrously ramped-up pizzicato/organ stab thing on 'Don't You Want Me', 'Hold That Sucker Down', 'Salva Mea' and 'Insomnia' (bit different each time tho)

159. Kraftwerk - kometenmelodie II
i really tried, but to find a specific part does not make sense to me.
summary could be @4:30 when all sequences are running at once.

160. YMO - key
bassline

161. Carlton - cool with nature
bassline, probably sampled?!

162. David Wise - aquatic ambience (from Donkey Kong Country II)
on a SPC 700

163. Matti "Melwyn" Palosuo - time index (x86 demo:fr-034.exe or mp3)
"19/4 beat, just mixed to normal 4/4 form" on softsynth V2 by kb

164. Love Bug Starski - you gotta believe
bassline

Not a synth, but pertinent to the discussion:
http://www.noiseaddicts.com/2009/03/superstition-clavinet-part-dissected

thank you, very interesting.
i'd swear its a synth, somehow. but what do i know.

The famous Hohner electronically amplified clavichord
http://mgrinventory.s3.amazonaws.com/small/40009-U74437.JPG

the superstition piece is cool

Italo Disco/Europop Department:

165. The lead synth playing the main riff in Silver Pozolli's "Around My Dream"
166. The bass sound in Ryan Paris' "Dolce Vita"
167. The lead sound at the beginning of Righeira's "Vamos a La Playa"
168. The synth bell in Fr. David's "Words"
169. The bass sound in Taco's "Puttin' On The Ritz"
170. The bright synth sound at the intro of Alphaville's "Sounds Like a Melody"

171. Every sound out of R2D2's...mouth, or portal or whatever

172. The intro of New Order's "Sunrise"
173. Bass synth on Mogwai's "Moses I Amn't"

174. (in lieu of "Sunrise" by New Order) "A Forest" by The Cure. Bonus points for any of the live versions.
175. The Fairlight that's all over HOUNDS OF LOVE (unless that doesn't really count as a synth, since it's technically a sampler.)

The entire song

Dont disturb the groove

a little slow on this version

177. The chirruping cicada noise that swallows up Eno's "The Great Pretender"

178. Interstellar clouds in Can's "Quantum Physics"

179. The Prophet-5 sync lead on The Cars' "Let's Go"

More Italo-Euro:

180. the bassline and chords in BWH's "Stop"
181. the big reverbed stabs during the break in Fancy's "Latin Fire"

Oh, whatever... dept.

Actually you can find the multitracks for Superstition all over Bittorrent and check all the parts yourself.

For "Won't Get Fooled..."

It is famous for its angular organ part set against guitar power chords, leading up to an extended synthesizer break into a drum entrance followed by a long scream by Daltrey. Townshend is playing block chords spread between the two keyboards of the 1968 Lowrey Berkshire Deluxe TBO-1 organ. The output of the organ is fed into the audio input of the EMS VCS 3 mk1 synth. The first bit of processing to be applied to the organ sound is a low-frequency oscillator (LFO) controlling the frequency of a voltage-controlled filter (VCF), using a sine or triangle wave shape. In other words, the synth is turning the tone of the organ from mellow to bright, up and down automatically. There are pictures of Townshend playing this instrument, as well as a video of Pete Townshend demonstrating how the sound was produced

Just livin' up to my screen name (again)...

182. Severed Heads, "Dead Eyes Opened"
183. Freeform Five - Perspex Sex (Ewan Pearson remix)

184. Sensorama - echtzeit
lightly detuned lead

185. Visage - fade to grey
186. Combustible Edison - carnival of souls
if this should be synth
187. Paul Hardcastle - nineteen

188. Omega - house of cards part 1

189. 'life support machine' noise in "blasphemous rumours" by depeche mode

190.

erm, still figuring out youtubes - 1:33 into Girls Just Want to Have Fun

191. The lead melody sound in Kraftwerk's Neon Lights.
192. The pad in West End Girls. (Actually the "Marcato Strings" from the Emulator II sample library, but never mind.)
193. The Odyssey lead sound in the intro to Ultravox's Vienna. (Take a bow, Billy Currie.)
194. The chugging gated pad that underpins Heartbeat City by The Cars.
195. The Jupiter-8 lead in Duran Duran's Save a Prayer.

66. JP-8 lead on Duran Duran's "Save a Prayer"...

― Naive Teen Idol, Friday, March 20, 2009 11:14 AM (4 weeks ago)

120. Billy Currie's ARP Odyssey lead on "Astrodyne" and most of Vienna -- this could be #1, really.

― Naive Teen Idol, Sunday, March 22, 2009 9:42 AM (3 weeks ago)

Oh, the shame. Alright, #193 is now the riff from Are 'Friends' Electric? and #195 is the Roland sync-sweep sound in the original version of the Pet Shop Boys' Paninaro.
Actually, I see that someone already mentioned the West End Girls pad. Although how he can describe it as "barely tonal" is beyond me.

Squiggly sounds in "Ghosts" by Japan (Oberheim?)

Sequential Circuits, actually. Those sounds are probably the most famous demonstration of the Prophet-5's Poly-Mod feature.

Actually, I see that someone already mentioned the West End Girls pad. Although how he can describe it as "barely tonal" is beyond me.

There is a bit of detuning at the beginning, isn't there? Surely very tonal throughout the song, but I can understand that the beginning sounds less tonal.

Alright, I've just listened to West End Girls, and I can hear what you mean. There is a subtle tonal shimmer around the chords. At first I wondered if the pad might have been chorused with something like the Roland Dimension-D. For comparison, I dug out Bobby O's original production of the song, which uses the same Emulator II strings sample. The chords sound more or less the same, which leads me to think that the tonal shimmer derives from the vibrato of the string section that provided the sample. When artificially re-pitched by the Emulator to form the intervals of a triad, the vibrato inherent in the original sampled note could well create that chorus-like effect.
All that said, the (first inversion) D/Dm/C* progression of the intro is totally unambiguous, so I can't accept "barely tonal" as a description.

* I don't actually remember now whether this is the key that it was recorded in, but it's how I always play it.